15 Insights From The Man Who Taught The World To 'Think And Grow Rich'

Friday

Sep 13, 2013 at 8:00 PM

Mandi Woodruff

Napoleon Hill, a Great Depression-era author and former advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, decided more than 76 years ago to figure out the key to wealth.

To do so, he interviewed more than 500 of the most successful men in the U.S. at the time, such as Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and Charles M. Schwab.

The result of his findings, "Think and Grow Rich," became one of the best-selling books of all time and sealed Hill's reputation as a pioneer of self-help literature.

We've scoured its pages to come up with some of Hill's best insights about wealth, power, and overcoming the mental barriers needed to achieve them.

"TRULY, thoughts are things, and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches, or other material objects."

"Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach."

"The major weakness of all educational systems is that they neither teach nor encourage the habit of DEFINITE DECISION. It would be beneficial if no college would permit the enrollment of any student, unless and until the student declared his major purpose in matriculating."

"One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man’s familiarity with the word 'impossible.' He knows all the rules which will NOT work. He knows all the things which CANNOT be done ... A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary. The first thing I did with it was to turn to the word “impossible,” and neatly clip it out of the book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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